All Projects

Various electronics, welding and crafting projects -- pretty much everything that isn't related to the DeLorean, as well as a chronicle of my computer history and toy collection. The most recent projects are shown on this page.

I got fed up the problems I was having with the Raspberry Pi 2/Linux combo that was running my Magic Mirror, so I replaced it with a second generation Intel Compute Stick running Windows 10. This was fairly quick to do, and has given me fewer problems and is notably snappier to work with.

With the forthcoming iOS 10 HomeKit updates, I decided to finally get Siri support for my SmartThings, Nest and Insteon hardware. None of these directly support HomeKit (well, Insteon does, if you want to buy a new hub), but some industrious developers have put together their own intermediary solution to this problem, Homebridge. I decided to take that route, and add my own support for Insteon FanLinc devices.

With Comcast's expansion of data caps, I started looking into how to monitor both per-app usage on my Macs, as well as per-machine usage on my network. I went with two solutions: Little Snitch and Gargoyle.

One day I came across Michael Teeuw's Magic Mirror project -- a Raspberry Pi displaying daily information on a portrait mode HDTV behind a two way mirror. This seemed like a great project, and I decided that I wanted to build my own (updated December 26th, 2015).

The laundry is in the basement, but we're usually on the second floor. The variable length cycle of our washer and dyer make it hard to time when they will be done, and the variable running speed makes it difficult for a vibration sensor to accurately report when they're completed. I decided to take advantage of my SmartThings ThingShield and build my own completion sensor that monitored the LEDs on both appliances to send push notifications to my phone.